She is Beauty, She is Grace
by Muggleborn Weasley
Summary: A young Lucius Malfoy is on a mission to piss his father off as much as possible. Who'd have thought he'd meet the love of his life along the way. Trans-Narcissa. TW: brief mentions of transphobia and emotional abuse.


It had all started about three months ago for Lucius Malfoy. His father had been pressuring him to 'straighten out his life' and 'find some goals'. He had finished his education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry two years prior, but he was no closer to figuring out what he wanted to do with his life. He wasn't sure about much of anything these days.

On that first night, all those months ago, Abraxas Malfoy had given Lucius quite a stern talking to about 'family duty' and 'responsibility'. Lucius had stormed out of the manor, absolutely furious. He wanted to do something wild, reckless and fun. Something that would really piss off his stern, conservative father. To Lucius, the most obvious solution was a shagging spree. Lucius walked towards the back of the grounds, getting himself out of the anti-apparition ward his father had set up in an attempt to get him to stop going out and shagging his way around the entire wizarding community. Once he was free of the protection charm, he turned sharply on the spot, thinking only of his destination, and vanished. He appeared, safe and sound, in the entrance hall to the gentleman's club on Knockturn Alley that his father often frequented. If his father was going to go to extreme measures to stop him going out, Lucius was going to go to extreme measures to make sure he slept with as many people his father knew as he could. Although, some of them were right old codgers, so maybe he would stick to the children of the old codgers – people who were roughly his own age. Then again, one of his father's oldest friends was the recently widowed Lady Lestrange and she really was rather beautiful – he may make an exception for her if the opportunity arose.

"Ah, young master Malfoy! How wonderful it is to see you again. Would you like me to take your cloak?" Lucius was greeted by a short bumbling wizard who reminded him a little of his potions master at school – Horace Slughorn. Lucius said nothing and practically threw his travelling cloak at the buffoon before making his way up the huge feature staircase, heading for the Diogenes Lounge. He had been sitting for barely more than five minutes when the door opened again. The most beautiful man Lucius had ever seen glided into the room. He was tall, slim and hair as platinum blond as Lucius' own. The mystery man indicated silently to the chair next to Lucius who nodded, after all they couldn't talk. That was the beauty of the room. Even if Lucius' father found him here, he couldn't shout at him. Lucius didn't recognise the young man in the other chair and he couldn't help but stare. He had an elegance about him that Lucius was so used to seeing only in women that it intrigued him. This other man was flawless. He had probably never so much as tripped over anything in his entire life. Lucius had been so busy staring at the chiselled profile of the man that he hadn't noticed him writing a note. It was only when the man placed the parchment on the table between them and slid it to Lucius that he remembered to blink.

 _I can feel you staring. Do I have something on my face?_

Lucius took a pen out the inner pocket of his robe and wrote 'sorry' on the piece of parchment and slid it back. He hid behind his copy of The Daily Prophet, dying of embarrassment. He couldn't focus on the newspaper however. He so desperately wanted to know who the man was. After a few minutes of watching a woman twirl round and round in a photograph, the man next to Lucius coughed to get his attention. He smiled at Lucius and nodded towards the parchment on the table. Lucius smiled back and picked it up.

 _Well I didn't say stop. You're using a muggle pen? Interesting choice._

Lucius wrote back using his 'interesting choice' of medium.

 _You see, I'm on a mission to piss my father off. I hate the pen, it feels unnatural. It annoys him though, so I'll tolerate it. I'm such a rebel._

Lucius' note made the other man laugh. He had to turn the scrap of parchment over to reply.

 _Shall we go to the bar so we can actually talk. We're going to run out of space soon._

Lucius read the note and nodded. He stood, leaving his copy of the Prophet on his chair. It was someone else's problem now. He held the door open, allowing the man to lead the way to the bar downstairs.

"Lucius Malfoy."  
"Oh, I know." The other man flashed a grin at him.  
"You do?"  
"Who doesn't know Lucius Malfoy? Honestly, the only person they talk about more than you, is me."  
"What do you mean they?"  
"Our parents and their," the man paused, trying to choose his words carefully, "associates."  
"Our parents know each other?"  
"You really don't know who I am, do you?" The man laughed. It was like music to Lucius' ears.  
"Sorry." Lucius apologised as he entered the bar. This time, the mystery man had held the door for him.  
"Don't be, it's rather refreshing. What do you drink?"  
"Surprise me. And put it on my father's tab. Yours too, of course." He nodded and made his way to the bar, leaving Lucius to choose a table. More than anything now, Lucius wanted to know who the man at the bar was. He had an excellent memory for faces, especially beautiful ones, so the fact that he didn't remember this man was really starting to get under his skin.

"So," the man put the drinks down and sat opposite Lucius. "I assume you know the Black family?"  
"Yes, some of them better than others."  
"Narcissus Black, pleasure to meet you." He stuck his hand out for Lucius to shake.  
"No way," Lucius smirked as they shook hands. "Really?"  
"So you have heard of me?"  
"Yeah, um," Lucius' smile dropped off his face. There were rumours about Narcissus Black that were less than pleasant.  
"Okay, ask your questions. I won't be offended." Lucius could tell that Narcissus was used to this.  
"No. You tell me what you're comfortable with me knowing." Lucius smiled again. He never liked rumours, and he knew what it was like to be the subject of them. It was horrible, especially when he wasn't ever given the chance to explain himself or his choices.

"Well, the first thing people ask is why I still look the same. It's because my father won't let me leave the house without transfiguring me to look how I used to."

"So it's true?" Lucius was surprised, but reserved his judgement. After all, it wasn't his place to judge anyone.  
"What that I'm a woman? Yeah." Narcissus laughed. "I go by Narcissa now. It's much prettier, don't you think?"  
"Much." Lucius agreed, although he didn't have much of an opinion. Names were names.

They nursed their drinks, and Lucius allowed Narcissa to tell her story. She had gone to America the previous year, without her father knowing, to see a healer in New Orleans who could help her. When she had returned, rumours were running rampant and her father had kept her pretty much locked in her room until she agreed to be 'fixed'. Eventually, she gave in to his will. She was going mad, locked away like that. She was allowed to leave the house, as long as she was transfigured and came only to the club. Her father believed that if she were here – in this most manly place – she would become 'her old self' again.

"So, yes," she came to the end of her story. "Despite one of my sisters being a dirty muggle lover and the other being a sociopathic bitch, I am still, somehow, the family embarrassment."  
"If it's any consolation at all, you're much more pleasant than either of your sisters. And more beautiful than the two of them put together." Lucius had met both Andromeda and Bellatrix, and he thoroughly disliked them both.  
"You haven't even seen me. Not me, me anyway."  
"It doesn't matter, though, does it?"  
"It does to me. Can we get out of here?" She looked at him with wide, pleading eyes. He couldn't resist.

"We can go back to my house, if you'd like?" Narcissa nodded. They both finished their drinks quickly and Lucius put his arm out. She linked hers through, and they apparated to the outskirts of the Malfoy Manor Estate.

After sneaking, rather masterfully, back into the house they ran for Lucius' bedroom. As soon as the door closed behind them, they fell apart laughing – proving to them both that no matter what age you are, sneaking around still brings out the child within.

"Can I use your bathroom?" She asked.  
"Sure thing, it's that door there." He pointed to the middle of three doors along one wall of his bedroom. The other two were closets and if she were to open either of them, she'd surely be flattened by all the crap he had hidden in there.  
"Thanks, I'll just be a minute."

She locked the door behind her and Lucius kept himself busy tiding up the work space in the opposite corner. He was, for the first time in his life, self-conscious about the mess in his room. He normally couldn't care less what people thought of him or his room, but he didn't want Narcissa to think he was a slob. Once he had cleared up a bit, she was still in the bathroom. He pulled a bottle of expensive firewhiskey out from under his bed and conjured two glasses onto the bedside table. He then knocked on the door.

"You okay in there?"  
"Yeah," the door unlocked but stayed closed. "I was just struggling a little to transfigure my boots. You ready to see the real me?"  
"I'm ready when you are." Lucius was disgusted with himself for being so nervous. She was a beautiful man, so there was no way she wouldn't be a beautiful woman. It seemed ridiculous to be worried about something as trivial as gender. The door opened slowly. Lucius was quite certain that the tension would kill him.

Within seconds, he realised he had nothing to be concerned about. She was beautiful. She was more than beautiful. She was extraordinary. Her waist was more pronounced and her, now longer, platinum blonde hair fell to her waist in gentle ringlets. Her face was a little softer now, and she had applied deep red lipstick.

"You're staring again."  
"Sorry," he dropped his eyes to the floor. He hoped she didn't think he was rude, but she was just so beautiful.  
"You're allowed to stare Lucius, everybody else does. At least you do it with kindness." She laughed. She walked around him and made herself quite at home sitting on the edge of the bed. "So," she picked up the bottle of firewhiskey he had sat out a minute ago. "Dragon piss is your poison?"

"That's about thirty galleons too expensive to be considered dragon piss." He laughed.  
"Can I open it?" she asked.  
"Of course." He sat on the bed as she poured the drinks. She handed him one.

"To new friendships," he raised his glass to her.  
"And a hell of a lot more." She winked at him as they toasted.

They sat up all night talking, and the more they drank the more they said. She spoke more of being shunned by her family, however she was still close with her sister Bellatrix. He spoke more of his family too, explaining how everything he had done in the last three years had been a rebellion against his father's old fashioned and conservative ways. He even told her about all the men and women he had slept with. At this, she had offered to make a hell of a racket when leaving so she was caught.

"After all," she reasoned, "What could possibly get under your father's skin more than thinking you slept with the 'perverted, freaky, weirdo Black boy'?" They had laughed, and Lucius reassured her that she wasn't perverted, freaky or a weirdo – she was just ahead of her time, as was he. That first night they met, Lucius decided something he wouldn't tell her for many years to come. He knew, right from that moment she offered to piss off his father, that he was going to marry that woman.


End file.
